A much sought-after service is that of garden maintenance. This is a vastly under-worked programme with plenty of potential for the budding gardener-cum-entrepreneur. The business can be run part or full time, can be based from home and, for a modest monthly ‘retainer’, is very definitely ongoing.
Is there a ready market for this type of work? Yes, I seriously believe there is. Just walk down any residential street in any town or village and you will find gardens, usually front and rear. The majority are well kept whilst some others are not. There are even some ‘in between’ specimens. All require hard and tenacious work to keep them in a showroom-like state. Not everyone can do this. For, in order to be able to keep up such a display takes time, a very precious commodity for those people who spend most of their waking hours at work. This is where you come in.
Provided that you are practical minded, don’t mind a bit of hard graft, are trustworthy and know a thing or two about the ‘green fingers’ phenomenon then you are ready to tap into this market.
Here’s where you can start. In order to obtain your client base, you will need to make your potential customers aware of the service that you can offer. The one major way to achieve this is to advertise. There is plenty of scope for this in every locality. For instance, there’s the local newspapers, newsagents’ windows and – although somewhat more strenuous – leaflet dropping. A typical classified ad in your local newspaper could read: “Gardens manicured. Delightful results. Regular repeat service. Tel: 01234 567890”. You could even add your email address and website details as appropriate.
For more ambitious advertising, such as display ads in the local newspapers or leaflet drops, you would need to elaborate somewhat on the classified ad, for example:
BRING YOUR GARDEN TO LIFE!
Ongoing care service provided.
Delightful results assured.
Call us now for details on how we can help YOU.
GLAMOUR GARDENS
01234 567890
Email: enquiries@glamour-gardens.com
Website: www.glamour-gardens.com
At the time of writing this, the above domain name was still available to purchase, so if you want to use it then you’d better jump in quick!
The display ad can be spaced out a bit more, and maybe you could add some relevant clip-art, such as a man or woman pushing a wheelbarrow, etc. Whilst duplication is a form of flattery, you may find that using your own wording may be more appealing than using my suggestion above. But, if you want to use the wording as shown above then please be my guest. The possibilities for advertising this service are limited only by your own imagination. But, having said that, don’t go overboard with your claims.
So, you’ve placed your ads, now you await your first calls. In the meantime, you must do some ‘spade work’. I won’t ask you to excuse the pun because it was intended. You have to prepare yourself for the task ahead. Gardening is a project whereby you will need certain items of apparatus, for instance garden fork, hoe, shovel/spade, dibber (hole-making device for plants and seeds), scythe, secateurs (pruning shears), tough gardening gloves. These are all available in garden centres, but shop around as prices do vary. Larger items, like lawn mowers, can be purchased second-hand, although you may be lucky enough to come to an arrangement with your customers to use their machines until such time as profits allow you to purchase your own. Also, if you can afford your own equipment from the outset, this will instill confidence for your clients as they will immediately see you as a professional set-up which, in turn, will set you up nicely for what fees to charge. Most gardens will need the minimum of upkeep and ongoing maintenance, for instance lawn mowing and some weeding or maybe earth-turning with the fork or spade. This is not going to be over-taxing. However, you will want to charge a fee that is going to reflect the amount of additional work that could be involved one month (but not necessarily every month), plus your time and effort.
If you work, say, for two hours per month on each garden, at £10/$15 per hour per garden (front and rear), that’s £40/$60 per client per month. Add to this figure fuel costs for your transport to and from your client’s house, say £5/$7.50, and we arrive at a costing of £45/$63 per month. To ensure perpetuity of payment of this ‘retainer’, you should arrange with the client for them to pay you by bank or credit card standing order on an agreed date each month. Such payments will be automatically transferred from their bank account directly to your own bank account. All you then have to do is check that the payment has been made before going to service the respective client’s gardens. And that’s all there really is to it.
Even working on 4 gardens per day is just 8 hours graft. And you get to meet people, as well as being free to work in the open air. Obviously, gardening is seasonal, but depending on how hard you are prepared to work during the ideal available working times, you should nevertheless be able to make a good income to help see you over on those ‘rest periods’ in between.
Don’t get disillusioned if things at first don’t seem to be going so fast; every new and growing business must go through an early phase of proving itself and your business will be no exception to this.
